IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ebg/iesewp/d-0692.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

On the methodology of management research

Author

Listed:
  • Rosanas, Josep M.

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

Epistemology, methodology or philosophy of science, i.e., the foundations and validity of knowledge, have never been very popular subjects as applied to management research. Lately, though, the need for better theories and the methodological discussion underlying the creation of such theories appears to be receiving more attention. In this paper, I will review some basic underlying issues in the area by taking a look at to some of the classical authors. I will first analyze Hayek's view of methodological problems in economics and then apply his analysis to the development of management theory. Then, I'll elaborate on Elster's distinction between causal, functional and intentional explanations. Naïve methodological attitudes will be discussed in this context. I will use agency theory as an example of what should and should not be done. Finally, I'll examine the falsification criterion in management theory and discuss the role of mathematics in the development of theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosanas, Josep M., 2007. "On the methodology of management research," IESE Research Papers D/692, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0692
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0692-E.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Argandoña, Antonio, 2007. "Anthropological and ethical foundations of organization theory," IESE Research Papers D/707, IESE Business School.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    epistemology; philosophy of science; methodology; management theory; foundations of management;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0692. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Noelia Romero (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ienaves.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.